Band-pass clock distribution networks

ABSTRACT

A band-pass clock distribution circuit includes a clock tree circuit including at least one clock buffer circuit. The clock tree circuit may be configured to receive a first clock signal from a clock generator circuit and to generate a second clock signal based on the first clock signal. A band-pass filter may be configured to receive the second clock signal and to provide a third clock signal to one or more load circuits. The band-pass filter includes a filtering resonant network including a first inductor and a second inductor coupled to one another at a center tap. The filtering resonant network is configurable to resonate with a parasitic capacitance associated with the one or more load circuits. A portion of the band-pass filter is integrated with the clock tree circuit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 15/999,339,filed on Aug. 17, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,802,533, which is thenational stage of International Patent Application No.PCT/US2017/018465, filed on Feb. 17, 2017, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/296,547, filed on Feb. 17,2016, the entirety of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present description relates in general to integrated circuits, andmore particularly to, for example, without limitation, band-pass clockdistribution networks.

BACKGROUND

Almost all digital and mixed signal systems use clock signals that aredistributed throughout the system using one or more clock distributionnetworks. The main function of a clock distribution network issynchronization of the flow of data signals among a number ofsynchronous data paths. This makes the clock distribution networks animportant part of the system, as the performance and reliability of thesystem is substantially affected by the operation of the clockdistribution networks.

The description provided in the background section should not be assumedto be prior art merely because it is mentioned in or associated with thebackground section. The background section may include information thatdescribes one or more aspects of the subject technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates examples of band-pass clock distribution networks.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a T-coil.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a circuit including a band-pass clockdistribution network connected to a load.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a graph of filter frequency responsesas a function of frequency for the circuit shown in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 5 illustrates example implementations of a clock buffer.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a clock tree along with a current-modelogic (CML) implementation.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a circuit including a band-pass clockdistribution network connected to a load.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a method for providing a band-passclock distribution networks.

In one or more implementations, not all of the depicted components ineach figure may be required, and one or more implementations may includeadditional components not shown in a figure. Variations in thearrangement and type of the components may be made without departingfrom the scope of the subject disclosure. Additional components,different components, or fewer components may be utilized within thescope of the subject disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description ofvarious implementations and is not intended to represent the onlyimplementations in which the subject technology may be practiced. Asthose skilled in the art would realize, the described implementationsmay be modified in various different ways, all without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings anddescription are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and notrestrictive.

In one or more implementations, a clock distribution network may provideclock signals to a number of circuits, for example, digital-to-analog(DAC) drivers that can present a considerable capacitive inputimpedance. Such a capacitive input impedance can load the clockdistribution network and thus demands a high signal current resulting inhigh power consumption. Therefore, in one or more implementations, clockdistribution networks with improved power consumption and reduced phasenoise are desired.

In one or more implementations, the subject technology may allowalleviation of issues related to degradation of phase noise (e.g.,jitter) in clock distribution circuits. In one or more aspects, thesubject technology allows providing clock signals for a larger load(e.g., capacitive load) using a clock tree circuit with reduced numberof buffers and/or or a reduced size of the buffers (e.g., reduced sizeof transistors that form the buffers). In one or more aspects, thereduction of the number and/or size of the buffers may allow for areduction in power consumption and phase noise (e.g., jitter) of theclock tree circuit. As used herein, the terms clock distributionnetworks and clock distribution circuits are used interchangeably.

FIG. 1 illustrates examples of band-pass clock distribution networks 110and 120. The band-pass clock distribution network 110 may include aclock tree circuit 112 and a filtering resonant network 114. The clocktree circuit 112 may include one or more clock buffers 115 (e.g., 115-1and 115-2). The filtering resonant network 114 may be, may include, ormay be a part of a band-pass filter (BPF). The clock buffers 115 mayreceive a first clock signal 102 and provide a second clock signal 104to the band-pass filter 114. In an aspect, the clock buffers 115 mayreceive the first clock signal 102 from a phase-locked loop (PLL) and/ora clock multiplier unit.

The clock buffers 115 may be referred to as a chain or cascade of clockbuffers 115 forming the clock tree circuit 112. In some implementations,the clock buffers 115 may be complementary metal-oxide semiconductor(CMOS) inverters. In an aspect, the first clock signal 102 may be areference clock signal (e.g., a master clock signal generated by thePLL) and used for synchronization and scheduling operations, or amultiple (e.g., integer multiple) of the reference clock signal (e.g.,generated by the clock multiplier). The band-pass filter may filter thesecond clock signal 104 received from the clock tree circuit 112 andprovide the filtered clock signal to a load. In an aspect, the load maybe a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) driver and/or a transmittercircuit. In some aspect, the load may be multiple DAC driver and/ortransmitter circuits coupled as parallel loads to the band-pass clockdistribution networks 110.

In an aspect, the band-pass clock distribution network 110 may be, ormay be represented as, a band-pass clock distribution network 120. Inthis regard, the band-pass filter 114 of the band-pass clockdistribution network 110 may be decomposed into a high-pass filter (HPF)122 and a low-pass filter (LPF) 124. The HPF 122 and the LPF 124 may bein a cascade (e.g., series) configuration. In an aspect, the order ofthe HPF 122 and the LPF 124 may be reversed from that shown in FIG. 1such that the clock signal from the clock tree circuit 112 is filteredby the LPF 124 prior to being filtered by the HPF 122.

Although the clock buffers 115 of the band-pass clock distributionnetworks 110 and 120 are illustrated as including inverters, the clockbuffers 115 may include clock buffers that do not invert the clocksignal. In an aspect, such clock buffers 115 may be referred to asnon-inverting buffers or repeaters. As used herein, the terms clockbuffers and clock distribution buffers are used interchangeably, and mayinclude non-inverting buffers, inverters, or a combination thereof.

In one or more implementations, a clock distribution network (e.g., theclock distribution networks 110 and 120) may include a T-coil. TheT-coil may be utilized to resonate out (e.g., cancel out) loadingcapacitance from a load (e.g., a DAC driver, a transmitter circuit). Inan aspect, the use of a T-coil may allow scaling down of the chain ofclock distribution buffers. The scaling down of the chain of clockdistribution buffers may allow for power saving and/or improved (e.g.,reduced) phase noise. By way of non-limiting example, the scaling downthe chain of clock distribution buffers may include reducing the numberof clock buffers and/or the size of the clock buffers (e.g., size oftransistors that form the clock buffers).

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a T-coil 200. The T-coil 200 is athree-terminal device. The terminals include a first (e.g., a primary)terminal 202, a second (e.g., secondary) terminal 204, and a center tapterminal 206 (e.g., a third terminal). The terms terminal and port areused interchangeably herein. In an aspect, the T-coil 200 includes aninductor that is center-tapped and includes portions with inductances L1and L2. In an aspect, the T-coil 200 includes two inductors L1 and L2(e.g., two overlapping inductors) that are connected with a center tap.The overlapping of the inductors L1 and L2 may allow for a more compactlayout relative to a case in which two non-overlapping inductors areutilized. In an aspect, the T-coil 200 includes a bridge capacitor CB,which may arise due to electrical coupling between the primary port 202and the secondary port 204 of the T-coil 200. In subsequent figures ofthe present disclosure, the bridge capacitor CB is not explicitly shownfor the sake of simplicity. The primary and secondary ports 202 and 204may be interchangeable if the inductance values of the two inductors L1and L2 are equal in the design. The magnetic coupling factor K providesan inter-coupling between the inductors L1 and L2. The T-coilcharacteristics depend on the values of the inductances of inductors L1,L2, and the coupling factor K, which are based at least in part on thedimensions of the T-coil. In some implementations, the values of theinductances L1 and L2 are within a range of about 50 to 80 pico-Henry(pH), and the value of the bridge capacitor CB is within a range ofabout 5-10 femto-Farad (fF).

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a circuit 300 including a band-passclock distribution network 302 connected to a load 340. The band-passclock distribution network 302 may include a clock tree 310, a biascircuit 320, a T-coil 330, and a capacitor C2. In an aspect, the load340 is tied to the secondary port 330-2 of the T-coil 330 and mayinclude a DAC driver and/or a transmitter circuit.

The clock tree circuit 310 may include a series of cascaded clockbuffers (e.g., inverters, non-inverting buffers) 315 (e.g., 315-1,315-2, and 315-3). In an aspect, one or more of the clock buffers 315may be utilized to allow for filtering of the clock signal 302 receivedby the clock tree circuit 310. In FIG. 3 , the clock tree circuit 310includes a capacitor C1 that is tied to an input port of a middle clockbuffer 315-2 and a resistor R1 that is tied to the input port and anoutput port of the middle clock buffer 315-2. The capacitor C1 and theresistor R1 may form a part of the high-pass filter having a firsthigh-pass pole P1 at 1/R1C1 (e.g., at about 1 GHz). In an aspect, thecapacitor C1 may be referred to as an alternating current (AC) couplingcapacitor and the resistor R1 may be referred to as a feedback resistor.In an aspect, alternatively or in addition, a capacitor and a resistormay be tied to another/other clock buffer(s) (e.g., 315-1 and/or 315-3)in a manner similar to how C1 and R1 are tied to the middle clock buffer315-2.

The bias circuit 320 includes a resistor R2 and a voltage supply 322 forsupplying a bias voltage Vbias (e.g., about 1 V) and is coupled to aprimary port 330-1 of the T-coil 330. A capacitor C2 is coupled betweenan output node 304 of the clock tree circuit 310 and a center tap 303-3of the T-coil 330. The capacitor C2 and the resistor R2 may form anotherportion of the high-pass filter having a second high-pass pole P2 at1/R2C2 (e.g., at about 3 GHz). In an aspect, the capacitor C2 may bereferred to as an AC coupling capacitor and the resistor R2 may bereferred to as a biasing resistor. In an aspect, the T-coil 330 coupledwith the capacitor C2 may allow for filtering characteristics thatfacilitate attenuation of out of band noise. In an aspect, thecapacitors C1 and C2 may function as DC blocking capacitors. Thecapacitors C1 and C2 may reduce any duty-cycle distortion that mayaccumulate due to the buffers of the clock tree circuit 310.

The resistor R1 may be connected in a feedback configuration to set adirect current (DC) trip point of the middle clock buffer 315-2, whichmay further help restore the duty cycle. The second order high-passcorner may be formed by the poles P1 (at 1/R1C1) and P2 (at 1/R2C2). Thehigh-pass corner may be set by adjusting the values of the passivecomponents (e.g., R1, R2, C1, and C2). The T-coil 330 together with theload parasitic capacitor Cpar3 gives rise to a low-pass filter response.This low-pass filter, in conjunction with the high-pass filter, resultsin an overall band-pass response characteristic. In an aspect, thecapacitor C1 and the resistor R1 may be tied to the middle clock buffer315-2 to allow correction of duty cycle distortion and allow for largersignal (e.g., voltage) swing. In some aspects, the capacitor C1 and theresistor R1 as used in FIG. 3 , permits usage of a DC trip point thatallows stable operation, for instance, in applications that utilize theclock distribution network 302 over a range of temperatures to beendured by the clock distribution network 302 and/or a system containingthe clock distribution network 302. For example, in a case with fiveclock buffers, a capacitor and a resistor may be tied to the third clockbuffer.

The clock distribution network 302 may include parasitic capacitancesCpar1, Cpar2, and Cpar3. In an aspect, the parasitic capacitance Cpar1is a parasitic capacitance associated with components of the clock treecircuit 310. In an aspect, the parasitic capacitance Cpar2 is aparasitic capacitance associated with the T-coil and the capacitor C2.In an aspect, the parasitic capacitance Cpar3 is a parasitic capacitanceassociated with the load 340. In an aspect, the parasitic capacitancesCpar1 and Cpar2 may be negligible compared to the parasitic capacitanceCpar3 (e.g., about 0.5 pF). The T-coil 330 and the parasitic capacitanceCpar3 associated with the load 340 may form a low-pass filter. TheT-coil 330 may be utilized to resonate out the effects of the parasiticcapacitance Cpar3.

In an aspect, the circuit 300 may allow phase noise improvement (e.g.,up to about 10 dB) for clock distribution. The T-coil 330 may beutilized to resonate out the presence of the relatively large parasiticcapacitor Cpar3, which may result in reducing the number of clockbuffers and/or reduce the size of the clock buffers driving the load340. The reduction in the number and/or the size of the active devicesthat form the clock buffers 315 may improve the phase noise (e.g.,jitter) of the clock tree circuit 310. In addition, the inductivebehavior of the T-coil 330 may improve on the rising and falling edgesof the clock signals and the amplitude of the clock signals, which mayimprove phase noise performance. In an aspect, the band-pass transfercharacteristic of the circuit 300 may also attenuate any noise outsidethe band of the clock fundamental tone. In other words, the circuit 300has band selective characteristic to filter out any out of band noise,thereby further improving the quality of the clocks to be distributed tothe load 340.

Although the clock tree circuit 310 of FIG. 3 includes three inverterbuffers, the clock tree circuit 310 may include fewer, more, and/ordifferent buffers (e.g., repeaters). In an aspect, additional DC blocksmay be cascaded to achieve a higher order high-pass filter. The higherorder high-pass filter may allow further attenuation of low frequencynoise. The additional DC blocks may be employed through addingadditional clock buffer in the clock tree circuit 310. In some cases,increasing the number of clock buffers may cause utilization of higherpower and/or worse phase noise (e.g., jitter).

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a graph 400 of filter frequencyresponses as a function of frequency for the circuit shown in FIG. 3 .The filter frequency responses are a LPF response 410, a HPF response420 and a BPF response 430. The LPF response 410 is caused by an LPFformed of the T-coil (e.g., 330 of FIG. 3 ) and the parasiticcapacitance Cpar3 of FIG. 3 . The HPF response 420 corresponds to thefirst HPF formed of the capacitor C1 and the resistor R1 of FIG. 3 andthe second HPF formed of the capacitor C2 and the resistor R2 of FIG. 3. The BPF response 430 is formed from the combination (e.g., product) ofthe LPF response 410 and the HPF response 420. In an aspect, the centerfrequency of the BPF response 430 is within a range between about 20 GHzto about 30 GHz. In an aspect, the values of resistances R1 and R2,capacitances C1 and C2, and the characteristics (e.g., dimensions andvalues of L1, L2, K) of the T-coil may be adjusted to achieve a desiredcenter frequency and passband. In some cases, one or more of theresistor R1, the resistor R2, the capacitor C1, and/or the capacitor C2may be tunable, such that the associated resistances and/or capacitancesmay be tuned. For example, a capacitance of a tunable capacitor may betuned based on a voltage applied to the tunable capacitor.

FIG. 5 illustrates example implementations 520 and 530 of a clock buffer510 (see, e.g., one or more clock buffers in FIGS. 1, 3 and 7 ). In anaspect, the clock distribution network (e.g., 302 of FIG. 3 ) mayutilize CMOS-based levels (e.g., supply to ground swing), as shown inthe implementation 520. In such an aspect, the clock buffers may beCMOS-based inverters or CMOS-based repeaters. In another aspect, theclock distribution network may utilize current mode logic (CML)-basedlevels, as shown in the implementation 530. The CML-based levels mayutilize a swing that is less than a supply. The CML-based buffers mayinvolve differential input and output. Thus, in the case that CMLbuffers are utilized, two T-coils may be utilized, one per each outputof the differential output. In FIG. 5 , the CML buffer implementation530 includes resistors 532 tied to a supply on one end and transistorsT1 and T2 on another end. In an aspect, the CML buffer may beimplemented using a p-type MOS input with the resistors tied to groundinstead of the supply. In an aspect, if the CML approach is utilized,the biasing resistor R2 of FIG. 3 should be set equal to the CML loadresistor 532 for matching purposes. In an aspect, with reference to FIG.3 , a last stage of the clock tree circuit 310 may include a CML buffer.In such an aspect, the resistor R2 may be set equal to a load resistance(e.g., 532) associated with the CML buffer.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a clock tree 610 along with acurrent-mode logic (CML) implementation 620. In an aspect, the clockdistribution network 302 of FIG. 3 may be implemented using CML buffers625 (e.g., 625-1, 625-2, and 625-3). In an aspect, a CML-based clocktree does not utilize the resistor R1 and the capacitor C1 of FIG. 3 dueto the differential configuration associated with the CML-based clocktree. The differential configuration may allow reduction or avoidance ofduty cycle distortion. The bias resistors R2 and R3 of transistors T4and T3 are tied to the bias voltages Vbias and through couplingcapacitors C2 and C3 to output nodes of the CML buffer 625-1. The valuesof the resistors R2 and R3 can be set equal to a load resistance(R_(L1)) associated with the CML-based buffer 625-1 for impedancematching purposes. The bias resistors R4 and R5 of transistors T6 and T5are tied to the bias voltages Vbias and through coupling capacitors C4and C5 to output nodes of the CML buffer 625-2. The values of theresistors R4 and R5 can be set equal to a load resistance (R_(L2))associated with the CML-based buffer 625-2 for impedance matchingpurposes.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a circuit 700 including a band-passclock distribution network 702 connected to a load 340. The descriptionfrom FIG. 3 generally applies to FIG. 7 , with examples of differencesbetween FIG. 3 and FIG. 7 and other description provided herein forpurposes of clarity and simplicity. The band-pass clock distributionnetwork 702 includes the clock tree circuit 310, the bias circuit 320,the T-coil 330, and the capacitor C2. The clock tree circuit 310 may beapplied to either the primary port 330-1 or the secondary port 330-2 ofthe T-coil 330 (rather than the center tap 330-3) and the load 340 maybe tied to the other port of the T-coil 330. The bias circuit 320 may betied to the center-tap 330-3 of the T-coil 330.

In one or more aspects, each of the three terminals/ports of a T-coil(e.g., 202, 204 and 206 in FIGS. 2 ; 330-1, 330-2 and 330-3 in FIG. 3 ;and 330-1, 330-2 and 330-3 in FIG. 7 ) may be referred to as a firstterminal, a second terminal, or a third terminal, in any order in anumber of different ways. For example, the 330-1, 330-3, and 330-2terminals may be referred to as a first terminal, a second terminal, anda third terminal, respectively. In another example, the 330-3, 330-1,and 330-2 terminals may be referred to as a first terminal, a secondterminal, and a third terminal, respectively. These are merely examples,and the reference (e.g., first, second, third) to a terminal may beprovided in any order.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a method 800 for providing a band-passclock distribution network (e.g., 110 of FIG. 1 or 302 of FIG. 3 ). Themethod 800 includes providing a clock tree circuit (e.g., 310 of FIG. 3) that includes at least one clock buffer circuit (e.g., 315 of FIG. 3 )(810). The clock tree circuit may be configured to receive a first clocksignal (e.g., 302 of FIG. 3 ) from a clock generator circuit and togenerate a second clock signal (e.g., 304 of FIG. 3 ) based on the firstclock signal (820). A band-pass filter (e.g., 114 of FIG. 1 ) includinga T-coil (e.g., 200 of FIG. 2 ) may be configured to filter the secondclock signal and to provide a third clock signal to a load circuit(e.g., 340 of FIG. 3 ) (830). A portion of the band-pass filter (e.g.,R1 and C1 of FIG. 3 ) may be integrated with the clock tree circuit(840). The T-coil includes a pair of coupled inductors (e.g., L1 and L2of FIG. 2 ) sharing a center tap (e.g., 206 of FIG. 2 ) and isconfigurable to resonate out an effect of parasitic capacitances (e.g.,Cpar3 of FIG. 3 ) associated with the load circuit. The portion of theband-pass filter integrated with the clock tree circuit is a first partof a high-pass filter (e.g., 122 of FIG. 1 ).

Various examples of aspects of the disclosure are described below asclauses for convenience. These are provided as examples, and do notlimit the subject technology.

Clause A. A band-pass clock distribution circuit, the circuitcomprising: a clock tree circuit comprising at least one clock buffercircuit, the clock tree circuit being configured to receive a firstclock signal and to generate a second clock signal based on the firstclock signal; and a band-pass filter configured to receive the secondclock signal and to provide a third clock signal to one or more loadcircuits, wherein: the band-pass filter comprises a filtering resonantnetwork including a first inductor and a second inductor coupled to oneanother at a center tap and is configurable to resonate with a parasiticcapacitance associated with the one or more load circuits, and a portionof the band-pass filter is integrated with the clock tree circuit.

Clause B. A method for providing a band-pass clock distribution circuit,the method comprising: providing a clock tree circuit comprising atleast one clock buffer circuit; configuring the clock tree circuit toreceive a first clock signal and to generate a second clock signal basedon the first clock signal; providing a band-pass filter including aT-coil configured to filter the second clock signal and to provide athird clock signal to a load circuit; and integrating a portion of theband-pass filter with the clock tree circuit, wherein: the T-coilincludes a pair of coupled inductors sharing a center tap and isconfigurable to resonate out an effect of parasitic capacitancesassociated with the load circuit, and the portion of the band-passfilter integrated with the clock tree circuit is a first high-passfilter.

Clause C. A band-pass clock distribution circuit, the circuitcomprising: a clock tree circuit comprising at least one invertercircuit, the clock tree circuit is configured to receive a first clocksignal and to provide a second clock signal; a filtering resonantnetwork configured to process the second clock signal to provide a thirdclock signal to a load circuit and to cancel out an effect of parasiticcapacitances associated with the load circuit by providing an inductancethat resonates with the parasitic capacitance associated with the loadcircuit; and a bias circuit including a resistor coupled to a firstterminal of the filtering resonant network, wherein: a second terminalof the filtering resonant network is coupled via a coupling capacitor toan output node of the clock tree circuit, and a third terminal of thefiltering resonant network is coupled to the load circuit.

In one or more aspects, examples of additional clauses are describedbelow.

A method comprising one or more methods, operations or portions thereofdescribed herein.

An apparatus comprising means adapted for performing one or moremethods, operations or portions thereof described herein.

A hardware apparatus comprising circuits configured to perform one ormore methods, operations or portions thereof described herein.

An apparatus comprising means adapted for performing one or moremethods, operations or portions thereof described herein.

An apparatus comprising components operable to carry out one or moremethods, operations or portions thereof described herein.

In one aspect, a method may be an operation, an instruction, or afunction and vice versa. In one aspect, a clause may be amended toinclude some or all of the words (e.g., instructions, operations,functions, or components) recited in other one or more clauses, one ormore words, one or more sentences, one or more phrases, one or moreparagraphs, and/or one or more claims. During prosecution, one or moreclaims may be amended to depend on one or more other claims, and one ormore claims may be amended to delete one or more limitations.

A reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean oneand only one unless specifically so stated, but rather one or more. Forexample, “a” module may refer to one or more modules. An elementproceeded by “a,” “an,” “the,” or “said” does not, without furtherconstraints, preclude the existence of additional same elements.

Headings and subheadings, if any, are used for convenience only and donot limit the invention. The word exemplary is used to mean serving asan example or illustration. To the extent that the term include, have,or the like is used, such term is intended to be inclusive in a mannersimilar to the term comprise as comprise is interpreted when employed asa transitional word in a claim. Relational terms such as first andsecond and the like may be used to distinguish one entity or action fromanother without necessarily requiring or implying any actual suchrelationship or order between such entities or actions.

Phrases such as an aspect, the aspect, another aspect, some aspects, oneor more aspects, an implementation, the implementation, anotherimplementation, some implementations, one or more implementations, anembodiment, the embodiment, another embodiment, some embodiments, one ormore embodiments, a configuration, the configuration, anotherconfiguration, some configurations, one or more configurations, thesubject technology, the disclosure, the present disclosure, othervariations thereof and alike are for convenience and do not imply that adisclosure relating to such phrase(s) is essential to the subjecttechnology or that such disclosure applies to all configurations of thesubject technology. A disclosure relating to such phrase(s) may apply toall configurations, or one or more configurations. A disclosure relatingto such phrase(s) may provide one or more examples. A phrase such as anaspect or some aspects may refer to one or more aspects and vice versa,and this applies similarly to other foregoing phrases.

A phrase “at least one of” preceding a series of items, with the terms“and” or “or” to separate any of the items, modifies the list as awhole, rather than each member of the list. The phrase “at least one of”does not require selection of at least one item; rather, the phraseallows a meaning that includes at least one of any one of the items,and/or at least one of any combination of the items, and/or at least oneof each of the items. By way of example, each of the phrases “at leastone of A, B, and C” or “at least one of A, B, or C” refers to only A,only B, or only C; any combination of A, B, and C; and/or at least oneof each of A, B, and C.

In one aspect, a transistor may be a bipolar junction transistor (BJT),and it may refer to any of a variety of multi-terminal transistorsgenerally operating on the principal of carrying current using bothelectrons and holes, including but not limited to an n-p-n BJT and ap-n-p BJT.

In one aspect, a transistor may be a field effect transistor (FET), andit may refer to any of a variety of multi-terminal transistors generallyoperating on the principals of controlling an electric field to controlthe shape and hence the conductivity of a channel of one type of chargecarrier in a semiconductor material, including, but not limited to ametal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), a junctionFET (JFET), a metal semiconductor FET (MESFET), a high electron mobilitytransistor (HEMT), a modulation doped FET (MODFET), an insulated gatebipolar transistor (IGBT), a fast reverse epitaxial diode FET (FREDFET),and an ion-sensitive FET (ISFET).

In one aspect, the terms base, emitter, and collector may refer to threeterminals of a transistor and may refer to a base, an emitter and acollector of a bipolar junction transistor or may refer to a gate, asource, and a drain of a field effect transistor, respectively, and viceversa. In another aspect, the terms gate, source, and drain may refer tobase, emitter, and collector of a transistor, respectively, and viceversa.

Unless otherwise mentioned, various configurations described in thepresent disclosure may be implemented on a Silicon, Silicon-Germanium(SiGe), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Indium Phosphide (InP) or IndiumGallium Phosphide (InGaP) substrate, or any other suitable substrate.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps,operations, or processes disclosed is an illustration of exemplaryapproaches. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, it is understood thatthe specific order or hierarchy of steps, operations, or processes maybe performed in different order. Some of the steps, operations, orprocesses may be performed simultaneously. The accompanying methodclaims, if any, present elements of the various steps, operations orprocesses in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to thespecific order or hierarchy presented. These may be performed in serial,linearly, in parallel or in different order.

In one aspect, a term coupled or the like may refer to being directlycoupled. In another aspect, a term coupled or the like may refer tobeing indirectly coupled.

Terms such as top, bottom, front, rear, side, horizontal, vertical, andthe like refer to an arbitrary frame of reference, rather than to theordinary gravitational frame of reference. Thus, such a term may extendupwardly, downwardly, diagonally, or horizontally in a gravitationalframe of reference.

The disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art topractice the various aspects described herein. In some instances,well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form inorder to avoid obscuring the concepts of the subject technology. Thedisclosure provides various examples of the subject technology, and thesubject technology is not limited to these examples. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the principles described herein may be applied to otheraspects.

All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the variousaspects described throughout the disclosure that are known or later cometo be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expresslyincorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed bythe claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to bededicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure isexplicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construedunder the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112, sixth paragraph, unless theelement is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in thecase of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “stepfor”.

The title, background, brief description of the drawings, abstract, anddrawings are hereby incorporated into the disclosure and are provided asillustrative examples of the disclosure, not as restrictivedescriptions. It is submitted with the understanding that they will notbe used to limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in thedetailed description, it can be seen that the description providesillustrative examples and the various features are grouped together invarious implementations for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.The method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting anintention that the claimed subject matter requires more features thanare expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the claims reflect,inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a singledisclosed configuration or operation. The claims are hereby incorporatedinto the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as aseparately claimed subject matter.

The claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects describedherein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with thelanguage claims and to encompass all legal equivalents. Notwithstanding,none of the claims are intended to embrace subject matter that fails tosatisfy the requirements of the applicable patent law, nor should theybe interpreted in such a way.

What is claimed is:
 1. A band-pass clock distribution circuit, thecircuit comprising: a clock tree circuit comprising at least one clockbuffer circuit; and a band-pass filter configured to receive an inputclock signal from the clock tree circuit and to provide an output clocksignal to one or more load circuits, wherein: the band-pass filtercomprises a filtering resonant network including a first inductor and asecond inductor coupled to one another at a center tap, a portion of theband-pass filter is integrated with the clock tree circuit, and the atleast one clock buffer circuit comprises two or more cascadedcurrent-mode logic (CML) inverters including a first CML inverter, and asecond CML inverter, and wherein an output node of the first CMLinverter is coupled to an input bias circuit of the second CML inverter.2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the at least one clock buffer circuitcomprises at least one inverter, wherein the inverter comprises acomplementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter, wherein theclock tree circuit comprises a cascade of inverter circuits, and whereinthe clock tree circuit comprises three inverter circuits.
 3. The circuitof claim 1, wherein the clock tree circuit comprises three clock buffercircuits, and the portion of the band-pass filter comprises a firsthigh-pass filter integrated with a middle one of the three clock buffercircuits.
 4. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the band-pass filtercomprises a high-pass filter in series with a low-pass filter, whereinthe high-pass filter is implemented using a first high-pass filterintegrated with the clock tree circuit and a second high-pass filter. 5.The circuit claim 1, wherein the band-pass filter comprises a high-passfilter in series with a low-pass filter, wherein the high-pass filtercomprises a second high-pass filter including a series capacitor and aresistor associated with a bias circuit, and wherein the seriescapacitor is coupled between an output node of the clock tree circuitand the center tap of the filtering resonant network.
 6. The circuit ofclaim 5, further comprising the bias circuit coupled to a first terminalof the filtering resonant network, wherein the bias circuit includes theresistor and a bias supply voltage terminal coupled to the resistor. 7.The circuit of claim 1, wherein the filtering resonant network comprisesa T-coil, and wherein the filtering resonant network comprises a firstterminal coupled to a bias circuit and a second terminal coupled to theone or more load circuits.
 8. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the clocktree circuit is configured to receive a first clock signal and togenerate a second clock signal based on the first clock signal, and theband-pass filter is configured to resonate with a parasitic capacitanceassociated with the one or more load circuits, wherein the second clocksignal is the input clock signal to the band-pass filter.
 9. The circuitof claim 1, wherein the two or more CML inverters further comprises athird CML inverter, and wherein an output node of the second CMLinverter is coupled to an input bias circuit of the third CML inverter.10. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the filtering resonant network isconfigured to cancel out an effect of a capacitive load associated withparasitic capacitances of the one or more load circuits and therebyallowing reduced power consumption by the clock tree circuit and animprovement of up to about 10 dB in an associated phase noise.
 11. Amethod for providing a band-pass clock distribution circuit, the methodcomprising: providing a clock tree circuit comprising at least one clockbuffer circuit; providing a band-pass filter including a T-coilconfigured to filter an input clock signal from the clock tree circuitand to provide an output clock signal to a load circuit; and integratinga portion of the band-pass filter with the clock tree circuit, wherein:the T-coil includes a pair of coupled inductors sharing a center tap,the portion of the band-pass filter integrated with the clock treecircuit is a first high-pass filter, and providing the band-pass filtercomprises providing a high-pass filter in series with a low-pass filter,wherein the high-pass filter comprises a second high-pass filterincluding a series capacitor and a resistor associated with a biascircuit, and the series capacitor is coupled between an output node ofthe clock tree circuit and the center tap of the band-pass filter. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one clock buffer circuitcomprises at least one CMOS inverter or current-mode logic (CML)inverter, and wherein the clock tree circuit comprises three clockbuffer circuits.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein providing the clocktree circuit comprises configuring the clock tree circuit to receive afirst clock signal and to generate a second clock signal based on thefirst clock signal, wherein the second clock signal is the input clocksignal to the band-pass filter.
 14. The method of claim 11, whereinproviding the band-pass filter comprises configuring the T-coil toresonate out an effect of parasitic capacitances associated with theload circuit.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising couplingthe bias circuit to a first terminal of the T-coil, wherein the biascircuit includes the resistor and a bias supply voltage terminal coupledto the resistor.
 16. The method of claim 11, further comprising couplinga first terminal of the T-coil to the bias circuit and a second terminalof the T-coil coupled to the load circuit.
 17. The method of claim 11,wherein providing the clock tree circuit comprises providing one or moreCML inverters, wherein the one or more CML inverters comprises threecascaded CML inverters including a first CML inverter, a second CMLinverter, and a third CML inverter, and wherein the method furthercomprises coupling output nodes of the first and the second CMLinverters respectively to input bias circuits of the second and thethird CML inverters.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the loadcircuit comprises one or more load circuits, and wherein the T-coil isconfigured to resonate out an effect of parasitic capacitancesassociated with the one or more load circuits and thereby allowingreduced power consumption by the clock tree circuit and an improvementof up to about 10 dB in an associated phase noise.
 19. A band-pass clockdistribution circuit, the circuit comprising: a clock tree circuitcomprising at least one inverter circuit; a filtering resonant networkconfigured to process an input clock signal from the clock tree circuitto provide an output clock signal to a load circuit; and a bias circuitincluding a resistor coupled to a first terminal of the filteringresonant network, wherein: a second terminal of the filtering resonantnetwork is coupled via a coupling capacitor to an output node of theclock tree circuit, a third terminal of the filtering resonant networkis coupled to the load circuit, and the at least one inverter circuitcomprises two or more cascaded current-mode logic (CML) invertersincluding a first CML inverter, and a second CML inverter, and whereinan output node of the first CML inverter is coupled to an input biascircuit of the second CML inverter.
 20. The circuit of claim 19, whereinthe circuit comprises a band-pass filter, wherein the band-pass filtercomprises the filtering resonant network, wherein a high-pass portion ofthe band-pass filter is at least partially integrated with the at leastone inverter circuit of the clock tree circuit, wherein the filteringresonant network comprises a T-coil and is configured to cancel out aneffect of parasitic capacitances associated with the load circuit byproviding an inductance that resonates with the parasitic capacitancesassociated with the load circuit.